Ratni Sari Dewi Sukarno bares all

Ratni Sari Dewi Sukarno bares all

TOKYO: The jet-set Japanese widow of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno has written a book billed as an insider's look at the global glitterati.

Ratna Sari Dewi Sukarno signed copies of the book, Shakokai e no Izanai (An Invitation to High Society), for 100 buyers at a promotional event at a bookstore in Tokyo's high-end Ginza shopping district on Wednesday.

Dozens more people crowded outside for a look at Indonesia's former first lady, now a television personality in her native Japan after decades as a celebrity exile in Paris.

Born as Naoko Nemoto, she changed her name in 1959 when she became the fourth wife of Sukarno, father of Megawati Soekarnoputri, the country's current president. Dewi fled Indonesia when he was overthrown in 1967.

Dewi's new book recounts her own experiences hobnobbing in high society. But it is also intended as a how-to guide for those hoping to imitate the social graces - if not the lifestyles - of the rich and famous.

"Every diamond must be polished before it shines," says the book's blurb.

Wearing a black pants suit, a matching pillbox hat and a string of gum-ball sized pearls, Dewi, now in her 60s, told reporters she wanted to introduce readers to "a world only I have experienced."

Most of the buyers were young and middle-aged women.

"She's just so pretty," said Wakako Fujino, 24, who was first in line. "She's somebody you can dream about."